TV Housekeeping

Today I finished all my work, ran errands AND had time for garage sales, all by 2:00 pm. Now it's all overcast and cozily bleak outside, which means perfect time to catch up on some TV blogging! Although the real question here is, how many TV sites can I visit to read commentary and gather supplementary info for these shows without being accidentally cross-spoiled for the big sad episode of Glee, WHICH I HAVE NOT WATCHED AND KNOW ALMOST NOTHING ABOUT, DON'T TELL ME.-How I Met Your Mother, 9x04, "The Broken Code"barneyrobin was all over the LJ front page this week and really bitter (apparently they're really bitter all the time, take my dislike of the Ted/Robin boredom and multiply it by wronged shipper intensity), so I can't quite remember any personal feelings I had about this. They made it sound really disappointing.

[edit: I take that back! I always enjoy inaccurate historical references to the Bro Code.]

I know I really enjoyed the Robin-trying-to-bond-with-women jokes, until someone pointed out "hey, remember that time she was besties with Glitter for years and was also pretty close to Nora, at the very least?" which ruined it with logic. It's still funny if I ignore canon. And at least I can still enjoy people screaming at Patrice! Patrice is the only recurring/repetitive joke that doesn't get old to me. I'll be 70 years old and yelling "Nobody asked you, Patrice!" at uppity kids who will in turn think I'm crazy.

P.S. While I'm browsing Tumblr tags for chatter, have a simple but cool bit of fanart I spotted:---------2 Broke Girlsand the Title That Sounds Like a Euphemism BUT ISN'T!And the Kitty Spank --First of all, I've been walking around sing-songing the "kitty" chant for the past week and deeply lamenting that I have no kitties (or, preferably, big solid dogs who are used to weird terms of endearment) to affectionately spank as I do.Second of all, I would have been happy even if they ended up returning the cat to a loving home because there were SO many cats in this episode. I want to go play on the crazy cat lady apartment set. I REALLY want the awesome experience of a cat trained to jump and land on my shoulder, although I also kind of wonder how many takes that took to accomplish. I can't find a single interview about the making of this episode or what it was like to film with a cat at all. What is wrong with you? How are you missing this golden journalism opportunity?

Also, there were just like endless scenes of Max shamelessly petting the cat and trying to take care of the cat and it's literally the happiest this show has made me since her heartfelt temporary goodbye to Chestnut.

Third of all, THEY NOW HAVE A CAT. REPEAT. THE GIRLS HAVE A CAT TO COMPLEMENT THEIR HORSE. Two seasons of Max's infrequently referenced but unwavering appreciation for creatures of the feline persuasion have come to fruition and she now has her very own special cat with a creepy meow that sounds like "hello." The fact that the cat has decided to bond with Chestnut (and thereby provide a plausible excuse for not being in every scene) is officially the happiest this show has ever made me, including last week's "I love you."

I just...I can't believe they're letting Max have a cat. (but I wish would stay "Jinxy" and not "Nancy," because the first name is adorable)

Nobody tell me anything; I don't want my hopes dashed. They let us keep Chestnut and the girls opened a cupcake shop; all dreams are possible! Except the dream of an episode without any vulgarity or filthy jokes. That dream is blacklisted.

Someone talk at me about this show; I literally cannot find any kind of official or amateur commentary re: this episode and I want to know what people think. They'd better think it was at least among the top 5 episodes in show history.

P.S. Meanwhile, the 2 Broke Girls tag on Tumblr did a great thing:[image cut]

Also, "cat on Kat cuteness!"----------Sidbar comedies I will hopefully never have to watch again now that 2 Broke Girls is moving back to 7:30 where it belongs!!

1. I'm really happy that "We Are Men" got canceled (or...is on its way there; pulled from the lineup?), because Monk and Kal Penn were already two of my least favorite actors of all time, and also the show is terrible. I suffered through an episode last week partly to pass time and mostly because it featured a really pretty Golden Retriever, and even with that beautiful dog being the focus of many scenes, my brain screamed in protest at its numbing idiocy.

2. I tried to watch "Mom" (2nd episode; I skipped the pilot in hopes this would be a more accurate guage) as well, and it was...all right, but very bland and nothing I would watch again if I had better options. Even Mike and Molly is preferable to this. This is preferable to Two and a Half Men, though.----------NCIS, 11x03, "Under The Radar"I LOVE VERA. I love her walk, her talk, the freaking fantastic friendship she has going on with Gibbs and her ability to make him genuinely smile and look amused on a regular basis. Other than being an equal rather than a surrogate daughter, he seems to have almost as big a soft spot for her as he does Abby. She's brash and fearless and (correctly) declares Tony to be a walking disaster. So even though the case was a wash that I barely paid attention to and the promo WAY overhyped the attempt to platform-link to Twitter, having her on screen was worth it. I'm OK with not having her full time, but they did set the bar pret-ty high for whoever does come in, so I hope they know what they're doing.

P.S. I love the idea of Abby wearing a scarf that Ziva randomly let her have in remembrance.---------The Mindy Project, "Magic Morgan"A word of advice: I would just avoid the entirety of the scene where Morgan is in her apartment. When he walks in, skip ahead to after the commercial break. Am still dry heaving a little. And, totally unrelated to this scene, I also wouldn't mind punching Dr. Adam Pally in the junk. The rest of it, though, was pretty good.

I am very happy that Mindy's hair is looking normal again, and as sad as I am about Casey* -- and super do not agree with throwing away all relationship mementos; I will never agree with this -- I loved that opening scene and am also 5000% on board with the snarky hate chemistry between her and the lawyer. That guy's face is fantastic! Almost as good as his snark. Even though I don't usually like the hate-at-first-sight relationship trope, something about this one just screamed, "yeah, okay FANTASTIC!" Actually, my ideal world would be where he develops a vendetta against the whole practice and generally bugs them for the rest of the season and takes Adam Pally's place** as a starring regular, but I'll take a few dates with Mindy too.

**If I am being honest with myself, I actually already dislike him less than 3 of the recurring gargoyles from the first half of season 1.-------Criminal Minds, 9x02: the conclusion to the twins episode wasn't bad, but there were no Maeve references this time so I can't remember what happened. :P Other than Camryn Manheim Bringing It, as she does, to a big showy finish. And also my resentment that we had to get attached to the dog-walking character only to have her tortured and murdered in an even more horrible way.

9x03: honestly, I was pretty focused in working through this episode -- I had commandeered the laptop so I could work during commericals while still watching downstairs with Mom, and the change in environment was so fun that I couldn't be bothered to pay attention to the TV screen since after that shocking and attention-grabbing teaser, it settled down into a really mundane storyline that didn't pick up until they explained why we had to keep following the boring-ass couple in hiding. And that was about 5 minutes from the end, so...

But I did smile to see Mitch Pileggi back in law enforcement mode...and then Eva La Rue appeared in a suit as well, causing me to cackle with a delighted "And look, CSI: Miami's here too! It's a whole reunion."~~~~~~~~Bonus good news:-I now have three lab maps on Neopets AND I finally regained access to one where I'd lost the PIN (which I put in place to do everything, including abandon/transfer pets and change my email address, but my email was mysteriously blocked from receiving Neopets messages so I couldn't even have it reset).

-For the first time ever, I caught up on my work and was able to request some extra work. 50% of which I finished the day it was assigned. I'm really proud of myself, since the company is apparently overloaded this month and they've been begging everyone to not only not fall behind, but do extra if possible.

-I had time for garage sales this morning and I got to pet THREE different dogs! A very quiet 14-year-old pale yellow Lab who lay quietly in the grass, an active black Lab/bully breed mix with a silly stubby tail who held still for 8 seconds and then rushed off to sniff at all the tables of stuff, and a calm little black-with-spotted-forelegs Cocker/Springer spaniel mix who walked up and stood patiently for petting until a new person they could greet appeared.

-One garage sale was advertised as "cleaned out 2 attics & a basement!" There was some interesting older stuff, but I'm pretty sure the guy running it was a little bit crazy. First he asked if I was "a high school girl," and when I said "a little past that," he was like, "19? You can't be 20," which was very flattering after all the world-wearying "ma'ams" I get...

...until he kept incessantly talking to me because there was no one else there, wanting to know if I went to college and what I do and if I lived in this town and if I was married and "is your husband a good guy? does he make a lot of money*?" and nodding at a stroller to say, "You'll probably need that soon." DUDE, CHILL. Also now that I look closely at your stuff it all seems kind of dirty and gross like a hoarder or someone who never learned how to clean up after himself.

*not like in a hitting-on-me way, more like a really weird grandpa. Every answer I gave him past my age was an automatic lie, finally saying my hypothetical husband and I were teachers and he was like, "I teach! Music. I teach guitar, for free. It's important to share," and I amended my armchair diagnosis from crazy to "I think maybe you've smoked a little too much pot in your life." I fled as fast as I could without seeming rude, because he seemed harmless, but also just...unnerving.